Hot Wheels Stopping Distance
Highly Recommended
Like all our Science Reasoning Center activities, the completion of the Hot Wheels Stopping Distance activity requires that a student use provided information about a phenomenon, experiment, or data presentation to answer questions. This information is accessible by tapping on the small thumbnails found on the bottom right of every question. However, it may be considerably easier to have a printed copy of this information or to display the information in a separate browser window. You can access this information from
this page.
The Standards
The Hot Wheels Stopping Distance activity describes an experiment in which students release a Hot Wheels car from various locations along an inclined track and measure its speed at the bottom and the distance it slides upon hitting a box. Data is presented in the form of a diagram of the experimental set up and a data table. Questions target a student's ability to plan an investigation, to identify the effect (both qualitatively and quantitatively) of one variable upon another variable, to use the pattern in the data to make predictions by interpolation and extrapolation, to apply the speed-stopping distance relationship, and to use an energy model to explain the experimental results.
This NGSS-inspired task consists of five parts. Each part involves a different type of skill or understanding. Collectively, the five parts were designed to address the following NGSS performance expectation:
HS-PS3-2:
Develop and use models to illustrate that energy at the macroscopic scale can be accounted for as
a combination of energy associated with the motions of particles (objects) and energy associated with the relative positions of particles (objects).
As a whole, the questions in this task address a wide collection of
disciplinary core idea (DCI),
crosscutting concepts (CCC), and
science and engineering practices (SEP). There are 83 questions organized into 22 Question Groups and spread across the five activities. The first four parts of Hot Wheels Stopping Distance consists of mostly of 2D questions; the last part consists of mostly 3D questions. That is, the task of answering the question requires that the student utilize at least two of the three dimensions of the NGSS science standards - a DCI, a CCC, and/or an SEP.
The following DCI, SEPs, and CCCs are addressed at some point within Hot Wheels Stopping Distance:
DCI: PS3.A: Definitions of Energy
- At the macroscopic scale, energy manifests itself in multiple ways, such as in motion, sound, light, and thermal energy.
DCI: PS3.B: Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer
- Conservation of energy means that the total change of energy in any system is always equal to the total energy transferred into or out of the system.
DCI: PS3.C: Energy in Chemical Reactions
- Although energy cannot be destroyed, it can be converted to less useful forms—for example, to thermal energy in the surrounding environment.
SEP 1.6: Asking Questions and Defining Problems
Ask questions that can be investigated within the scope of the school laboratory, research facilities, or field (e.g., outdoor environment) with available resources and, when appropriate, frame a hypothesis based on a model or theory.
SEP 2.3: Developing and Using Models
Develop, revise, and/or use a model based on evidence to illustrate and/or predict the relationships between systems or between components of a system.
SEP 3.1: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
Plan an investigation or test a design individually and collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence as part of building and revising models, supporting explanations for phenomena, or testing solutions to problems. Consider possible variables or effects and evaluate the confounding investigation’s design to ensure variables are controlled.
SEP 3.2: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
Plan and conduct an investigation individually and collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence, and in the design: decide on types, how much, and accuracy of data needed to produce reliable measurements and consider limitations on the precision of the data (e.g., number of trials, cost, risk, time), and refine the design accordingly.
SEP 3.5: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
Make directional hypotheses that specify what happens to a dependent variable when an independent variable is manipulated.
SEP 4.1: Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (e.g., computational, mathematical) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.
SEP 4.2: Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Apply concepts of statistics and probability (including determining function fits to data, slope, intercept, and correlation coefficient for linear fits) to scientific and engineering questions and problems, using digital tools when feasible.
SEP 4.3: Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Consider limitations of data analysis (e.g., measurement error, sample selection) when analyzing and interpreting data.
SEP 5.3: Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
Use mathematical, computational, and/or algorithmic representations of phenomena or design solutions to describe and/or support claims and/or explanations.
SEP 6.1: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Make a quantitative and/or qualitative claim regarding the relationship between dependent and independent variables. .
SEP 6.2: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
SEP 6.4: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Apply scientific reasoning, theory, and/or models to link evidence to the claims to assess the extent to which the reasoning and data support the explanation or conclusion.
SEP 7.1: Engaging in Argument from Evidence
Compare and evaluate competing arguments or design solutions in light of currently accepted explanations, new evidence, limitations (e.g., trade-offs), constraints, and ethical issues.
SEP 7.5: Engaging in Argument from Evidence
Make and defend a claim based on evidence about the natural world or the effectiveness of a design solution that reflects scientific knowledge, and student-generated evidence.
CCC 1.2: Patterns
Empirical evidence is needed to identify patterns.
CCC 1.5: Patterns
Mathematical representations are needed to identify some patterns.
CCC 3.2: Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
Algebraic thinking is used to examine scientific data and predict the effect of a change in one variable on another (e.g., linear growth vs. exponential growth).
CCC 4.1: Systems and System Models
When investigating or describing a system, the boundaries and initial conditions of the system need to be defined and their inputs and outputs analyzed and described using models.
CCC 5.3: Energy and Matter
Changes of energy and matter in a system can be described in terms of energy and matter flows into, out of, and within that system.
CCC 5.4: Energy and Matter
Energy cannot be created or destroyed—it only moves between one place and another place, between objects and/or fields, or between systems.
Here is our NGSS-based analysis of each individual activity of the Energy on an Incline Science Reasoning task. The core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and science and engineering practices that we reference in our analysis are numbered for convenience. You can cross-reference the specific notations that we have used with the listings found on the following pages:
Disclaimer: The standards are not our original work. We are simply including them here for convenience (and because we have referenced the by number). The standards are the property of the Next Generation Science Standards.
Part 1: Planning and Carrying Out the Investigation
This activity consists of 16 forced-choice questions organized into four Question Groups. Students ponder how to measure skid distance, what factors to be cautious of when conducting the experiment, and the types of questions the experiment can answer. Students earn the Trophy for this activity once they demonstrate mastery on all four Question Groups.
| |
Target SEP(s) |
Target CCC(s) |
|
|
Asking Questions and Defining Problems
SEP 1.6
Ask questions that can be investigated within the scope of the school laboratory, research facilities, or field (e.g., outdoor environment) with available resources and, when appropriate, frame a hypothesis based on a model or theory.
Planning and Conducting an Investigation
SEP 3.1
Plan an investigation or test a design individually and collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence as part of building and revising models, supporting explanations for phenomena, or testing solutions to problems. Consider possible variables or effects and evaluate the confounding investigation’s design to ensure variables are controlled.
SEP 3.2
Plan and conduct an investigation individually and collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence, and in the design: decide on types, how much, and accuracy of data needed to produce reliable measurements and consider limitations on the precision of the data (e.g., number of trials, cost, risk, time), and refine the design accordingly. |
Patterns
CCC 1.2
Empirical evidence is needed to identify patterns.
|
Part 2: Data interpretation and Analysis
This activity 23 forced-choice questions organized into six Question Groups. Students analyze collected data to find both qualitative and quantitative patterns associated with the data. Students earn the Trophy for this activity once they demonstrate mastery on all six Question Groups.
| |
Target SEP(s) |
Target CCC(s) |
|
|
Planning and Conducting an Investigation
SEP 3.5
Make directional hypotheses that specify what happens to a dependent variable when an independent variable is manipulated.
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
SEP 4.1
Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (e.g., computational, mathematical) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.
SEP 4.2
Apply concepts of statistics and probability (including determining function fits to data, slope, intercept, and correlation coefficient for linear fits) to scientific and engineering questions and problems, using digital tools when feasible.
SEP 4.3
Consider limitations of data analysis (e.g., measurement error, sample selection) when analyzing and interpreting data.
Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
SEP 5.3
Use mathematical, computational, and/or algorithmic representations of phenomena or design solutions to describe and/or support claims and/or explanations. |
Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
CCC 3.2
Algebraic thinking is used to examine scientific data and predict the effect of a change in one variable on another (e.g., linear growth vs. exponential growth).
|
Part 3: Using the Model to Make Predictions
This activity consists of 14 forced-choice questions organized into four Question Groups. Students use the patterns found in the collected data to make predictions about subsequent trials using interpolation and extrapolation. Students earn the Trophy for this activity once they demonstrate mastery on all four Question Groups.
| |
Target SEP(s) |
Target CCC(s) |
|
|
Engaging in Argument from Evidence
SEP 6.1
Make a quantitative and/or qualitative claim regarding the relationship between dependent and independent variables..
|
Patterns
CCC 1.5
Mathematical representations are needed to identify some patterns.
Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
CCC 3.2
Algebraic thinking is used to examine scientific data and predict the effect of a change in one variable on another (e.g., linear growth vs. exponential growth). |
Part 4: Speed and Stopping Distance
This activity consists of 14 forced-choice questions organized into four Question Groups. Students focus on the speed-stopping distance relationship and use the pattern in the data to make predictions and applications. Students earn the Trophy for this activity once they demonstrate mastery on all four Question Groups.
| |
Target SEP(s) |
Target CCC(s) |
|
|
Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
SEP 3.5
Make directional hypotheses that specify what happens to a dependent variable when an independent variable is manipulated.
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
SEP 4.1
Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (e.g., computational, mathematical) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
SEP 6.2
Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
SEP 6.4
Apply scientific reasoning, theory, and/or models to link evidence to the claims to assess the extent to which the reasoning and data support the explanation or conclusion.
|
Patterns
CCC 1.5
Mathematical representations are needed to identify some patterns.
Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
CCC 3.2
Algebraic thinking is used to examine scientific data and predict the effect of a change in one variable on another (e.g., linear growth vs. exponential growth).
|
Part 5: Energy Analysis
This activity consists of 16 forced-choice questions organized into four Question Groups. Students apply concepts of energy in order to evaluate statements and explain observations. Students earn the Trophy for this activity once they demonstrate mastery on all four Question Groups.
| Target DCI(s) |
Target SEP(s) |
Target CCC(s) |
|
Energy
PS3.A
Conservation of energy means that the total change of energy in any system is always equal to the total energy transferred into or out of the system.
At the macroscopic scale, energy manifests itself in multiple ways, such as in motion, sound, light, and thermal energy.
PS3.B
Conservation of energy means that the total change of energy in any system is always equal to the total energy transferred into or out of the system.
PS3.D
Although energy cannot be destroyed, it can be converted to less useful forms—for example, to thermal energy in the surrounding environment.
|
Developing and Using Models
SEP 2.3
Develop, revise, and/or use a model based on evidence to illustrate and/or predict the relationships between systems or between components of a system.
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
SEP 6.2
Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
Engaging in Argument from Evidence
SEP 7.1
Compare and evaluate competing arguments or design solutions in light of currently accepted explanations, new evidence, limitations (e.g., trade-offs), constraints, and ethical issues.
SEP 7.5
Make and defend a claim based on evidence about the natural world or the effectiveness of a design solution that reflects scientific knowledge, and student-generated evidence. |
Systems and System Models
CCC 4.1
When investigating or describing a system, the boundaries and initial conditions of the system need to be defined and their inputs and outputs analyzed and described using models.
Energy and Matter
CCC 5.3
Changes of energy and matter in a system can be described in terms of energy and matter flows into, out of, and within that system.
CCC 5.4
Energy cannot be created or destroyed—it only moves between one place and another place, between objects and/or fields, or between systems. |
Complementary and Similar Resources
The following resources at The Physics Classroom website complement the Hot Wheels Stopping Distance Science Reasoning Activity. Teachers may find them useful for supporting students and/or as components of lesson plans and unit plans.
The Physics Classroom Tutorial, Work, Energy and Power Chapter
Physics Video Tutorial, Work, Energy, and Power: Force and System Analysis
Physics Interactives, Work and Energy: Stopping Distance
Physics Interactives, Work and Energy: Kinetic Energy
Physics Interactives, Work and Energy: Roller Coaster Model
Concept Builders, Work and Energy: Work
Concept Builders, Work and Energy: Match That Bar Chart
Concept Builders, Work and Energy: Energy Analysis 2
Minds On Physics, Work and Energy Module: Mission WE6, Energy Bar Charts
Minds On Physics, Work and Energy Module: Mission WE9, Work and Energy Conversions
The Calculator Pad, Work, Energy, and Power: Problem Sets WE9 - WE11 and WE15